Thanos, an evil genius, is bent on collecting the six Infinity Stones so that he can enact a plan to wipe out half the universe’s population with the snap of his fingers. Using a select group of his “children,” what he calls the young orphans he’s taken off of the planets he’s conquered over the years, he attempts to recover the remaining stones needed to finish his gauntlet and enact his plan. The only ones standing in his way are the Avengers, or what’s left of them anyway, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the few heroes the two groups have managed to find along the way. As the groups cross paths on their missions to stop Thanos, they learn they must all band together to defeat him as he razes a path of death and destruction across the galaxy from Knowhere to Earth in order to complete his mission.

As I’ve stated before, Marvel has used the last ten years or so to perfect the fine art of a fleshed-out, fully populated comic book universe. Avengers: Infinity War, the 19th movie in the MCU, or Marvel Cinematic Universe, brings together nearly every hero introduced up to this point in a massively ambitious crossover event that is unlike pretty much anything seen before it. Due credit should be given to the casting directors, as they’ve managed to assemble (pardon the unavoidable pun) a group of actors that all work amazingly well together, even though many of the groupings include characters that are meeting for the first time. Since about 90% of the characters have been previously introduced over the last decade of movies, and Thanos has more of his back story filled in, only his Children are left a mystery, since we don’t learn much about them in their limited screen time.

The special effects are top notch, which is to be expected. With everything from ships traveling through space and alien planets, to the slightly futuristic technology of Wakanda, it all blends well and has a realistic quality. There are also several fully CGI characters and creatures, which also have a realistic quality. The background filler is unnoticeable.

Despite the fact that several of the characters from the comic book story line don’t appear in the movie because of licensing issues, the movie is still really good. Viewers may need to watch the previous 18 films in order to know what’s going on, but it’s worth the time spent since much of the series is above-par, with only one or two missteps. And, as long as you don’t let the cliffhanger ending get to you, it’s one that can be watched more than once without getting too old.

Avengers: Infinity War isn’t available free to stream anywhere at the moment, but it can be rented from Redbox or Netflix home delivery service, or purchased from a participating store or on-line retailer.